3 Years Later My New Year's Resolution Came True...

Three years ago on New Years Day I had the idea to try something different. And it wasn't a diet or new lease on life. It was a plan to clean up the litter in Philadelphia. I was tripping over trash walking through Spring Garden to Old City and I kept thinking, "The City relies on volunteer efforts to run sporadic cleanups that while good intentioned, do not provide a sustainable solution. People need to be held accountable and compensated for things to get done. I am going to find a way to pay people to clean up the litter." And thus began a three year process that culminated two weeks ago when, on New Years Eve I ran into one of the first 5 people that my new company, Glitter, has hired to do just that. Was it a coincidence? Probably. But it didn’t feel that way. This New Years Eve, 3 years minus a day to when I had the idea behind Glitter I ran into one of our new Glitter Cleaners, David, as he was out cleaning up 5th Street. He had his head lamp on, his bright orange Glitter vest, and his broom and trash can. I stopped and asked "Are you a Glitter cleaner?" Long ago I learned not to try and do everything myself and was lucky enough to meet Brandon who has been hiring and onboarding our cleaners. Having never met David I wasn't 100% sure but that vest looked pretty familiar. Imagine the feeling of creating something in your head and then bumping into someone who was a part of it just a short while later. David was excited to talk and what I had thought would be a quick hello turned into 20+ minutes of sidewalk talk. He was excited to share his appreciation for the chance to not only making the city a better place but was grateful for the extra income it earned him. I’ve since run into him again and asked for a photo and if I could share our serendipitous story.?He graciously agreed. Thank you David for being a wonderful Glitter Cleaner and Glitter ambassador!

If this is the first time you are hearing about Glitter, allow me to summarize: at Glitter we are making it possible for everyone and anyone in Philadelphia (and eventually anywhere) to live on a clean, litter-free street. With our ‘pay-what-you-can’ model that is also subsidized by a Glitter Impact Fund, we help neighbors from across the city to employ someone like David, eager to work to earn more income, to come and clean their block every week. With this model we are already removing 250 bags of trash every month with just 30 active blocks cleaned by 5 people and close to 100 paying neighbors. But we have over 350 people who have applied to work for us. Now we need you to subscribe for your block to get cleaned so we can hire them!

• We're now cleaning 30 blocks?every week?throughout the city and removing over?250 bags of litter every month!
• We just?relaunched our website?with updated information about the company, shared subscriptions, and cleaner hiring information.
• New shared subscriptions can now be initiated via a simple form embedded on?our subscribe page.
• We provide all new blocks with a?customized Glitter homepage?where neighbors can see who is contributing, get others to join, and see progress over time.

The best way to see the impact of Glitter is to?start or join a shared Clean Block Subscription. You can learn more about Glitter at www.getglitterapp.com and of course feel free to ask questions here and I’ll happily answer them! I envision a Philadelphia where everyone, not just Center City residents, can live on clean and litter-free blocks and people who want to earn more income have access to jobs regardless of their background.?You can also reach me at [email protected] as well.